UTSA vs. Ohio State, 3:40 p.m. Friday

CLEVELAND — In the Southland Conference, there are no double-edged swords. Indeed, if there were, chances are good your opponent might stab themselves with it.

Not so with The Ohio State Buckeyes.

From size to speed to strength to shooting to rebounding to defense, the top seed in the NCAA tournament appears to have no weaknesses. Especially not when compared to UTSA. If Ohio State is a top-of-the-line Northland freezer, the Roadrunners are castoffs from the Scratch and Dent Superstore.

As such, it’s going to take a lot of gambling, and a lot of luck, for UTSA to have much of a chance against the Buckeyes tommorrow at Quicken Loans Arena — AKA, the House LeBron Built and Promptly Abandoned — in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

“Obviously, we know what a load (freshman forward Jared Sullinger) is,” head coach Brooks Thompson said. “We don’t have the size and the strength and the girth to handle him. We’re going to have to throw the kitchen sink at him. And that’s what makes them so good. You double him, then it’s going to leave their shooters open. We’ve got some mismatch issues out there that we’ll have to do different things to than play straight up.”

That includes keeping the Buckeyes off the offensive glass; keeping them from dominating and/or penetrating the paint; force them to take as many contested shots as possible; and controlling the tempo as much as possible.

Needless to say, it will take a virtually perfect game to pull all that off, not to mention a healthy assist from the Buckeyes. Despite the long odds — No. 16 seeds are 0-104 against No. 1 seeds — point guard Devin Gibson said the Roadrunners aren’t intimidated, not by the Buckeyes or the prospect of playing in front of a de facto home crowd of more than 20,000 fans.

Indeed, he said he welcomes the challenge.

“To be honest, I don’t think you put (the history) out of your mind; I think you embrace it,” Gibson said. “Our backs have been against the wall. We’ve embraced that and it’s actually been a great motivational tool. Being down 10 at the half (against UT-Arlington) trying to get into the (Southland) tournament, being down 14 in our conference tournament game (against Northwestern St.), we kind of embraced it and took the challenge.”

NOTES

These last 24 hours have been a whirlwind for the Roadrunners.

They immediately bussed to Cleveland after beating Alabama St. 70-61 in Dayton for the first NCAA tournament victory in school history. Upon waking they’ve spent the day cramming on the gameplan, meeting the press and practicing. (As I type, the Roadrunners are enjoying a spirited shooting contest in the cavernous Q under the watchful eye of school president Dr. Ricardo Romo.) After that they were planning to have another film session this evening.

“It’s been a real hectic week,” Melvin Johnson III said. “We haven’t really had a chance to enjoy anything. But it’s not about enjoying; it’s about going out and trying to get wins. So we have to do what we can to get another one.”

Win or lose, Thompson said the past two weeks have been an invaluable experience for his young team, which will lose only Gibson.

“This is unbelievable for the future of our program,” he said, “and I thnk that we’re going to build on it. That’s what we’re making sure ot preach to our guys.”

Jeromie Hill quote of the day: Asked about the prospect of treating the week like a “vacation” in Ohio, “Funny enough, I don’t even know where Ohio is.”

Melvin moment of the day: I missed this during the game, but apparently Johnson, who’s got one of the goofier personalities you’ll ever encounter, waved at himself on the big screen after sinking a shot during Wednesday’s victory.

“I haven’t been on TV much,” he said. “I just kind of cherished that moment and embraced it and I was on TV. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

Starting lineups:

Ohio State (32-2)

G — Jon Diebler, 6-6 (12.5 ppg, 50% 3s)

G — William Buford, 6-5 (14.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.0 apg)

F — David Lighty, 6-5 (11.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.2 apg)

F — Jared Sullinger, 6-9 (17.2 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 54% FGs)

C — Dallas Lauderdale, 6-8 (4.3 ppg, 73% FGs)

Sixth man — G Aaron Craft, 6-2 (7.3 ppg, 4.5 apg, 1.9 spg)

UTSA (20-13)

G — Devin Gibson, 6-0 (16.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 5.5 apg)

G — Melvin Johnson III, 6-5 (15.2 ppg, 38% 3s)

F — Stephen Franklin, 6-6 (6.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 37% 3s)

F — Jeromie Hill, 6-8 (13.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 40% 3s)

C — Larry Wilkins, 6-4 (3.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg)

Sixth man — G Sei Paye 6-3 (5.2 ppg)

Post script: Cleveland really does get a bad rap. Even so, these vidoes (here, and here) always slay me. A note, the language is a tiny bit salty, so if you’re easily offended, you might want to skip it.